The Cognitive Health Committee explores how foods, nutrients, diets and bioactive food components support optimization and maintenance of cognitive performance.

With a focus on health promotion, the Cognitive Health Committee advances translational nutrition research - prioritizing real world cognitive health outcomes with meaningful impact on quality of life from adolescence through older age. 

The specific goals of the Committee are to:

  • Build the evidence required to fill data gaps in support of dietary recommendations or guidance related to how diet and nutrition can promote optimized cognitive health
  • Promote and/or develop research guidance and best practices, with clarity on limitations – both for research conduct and for research interpretation

Why is this important?

Neurocognitive health is central to quality of life. However, dietary guidance and food development that support the optimal brain in “generally healthy” populations is limited. The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee explored neurocognitive health through several systematic reviews and was faced with a literature having “considerable variation in testing methods, inconsistent validity and reliability of cognitive testing methods, and differences between dietary patterns and cognitive outcomes examined,” reducing the ability to draw conclusions.

Understanding how foods, nutrients, diets and bioactive food components support optimization and maintenance of cognitive performance has potential for significant societal and public health benefit.

Overarching Themes to be Addressed:

  • Advancing research methods that prioritize outcome measures with real-world impact
  • Advancing research approaches emphasizing causal pathways linking diet with cognitive health

COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Balchem
Cargill
Florida Department of Citrus
General Mills, Inc.
Haleon
Herbalife Nutrition
Kraft Heinz Company
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.

ACADEMIC ADVISORS
Hayley Young, PhD, Swansea University Linda Snetselaar, PhD, University of Iowa Philip D. Harvey, PhD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

GOVERNMENT ADVISOR
Cindy Davis, PhD, USDA, ARS

Join Us!

Project Supported by the Committee:

Understanding Adolescence as a Critical Period for Immediate and Long-term Cognitive Health Impact – Systematic Review

Applying Retrospective Harmonization to the Field of Nutrition and Cognitive Health

Understanding Authoritative Decisions Around Selection and Validation of Cognitive Performance Measures – with a Focus on Nutrition-Related Research

Translation of Consumer-Articulated Cognitive Benefits to Validated Research Tools

Publications

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Perspective: Advancing Dietary Guidance for Cognitive Health—Focus On Solutions to Harmonize Test Selection, Implementation and Evaluation

Advances in Nutrition, 2023

Harmonizing cognitive task selection in nutrition research, with a focus on solutions toward informing dietary guidance for cognitive health, is important to address a gap identified by government advisory panels.

Read more about Perspective: Advancing Dietary Guidance for Cognitive Health—Focus On Solutions to Harmonize Test Selection, Implementation and Evaluation

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Past Events

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Roundtable: Understanding Approaches, Decisions, and Challenges to Cognitive Performance Measure Selection, Validation, and Evaluation to Support Effects of Nutrition

March 14, 2022

Virtual, Event

This meeting aims to understand decisions and approaches that underlie cognitive assessment tool selection by authoritative groups, with the aim to advance evidence evaluation and development to support future dietary guidance and outline next steps for addressing measure variability.

Read more about Roundtable: Understanding Approaches, Decisions, and Challenges to Cognitive Performance Measure Selection, Validation, and Evaluation to Support Effects of Nutrition

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